Page 2 of Master (The Outlander Book Club… in Space! #3)

Tarook

“I could ask one of the other girls to take my shift if you like.”

I managed to snatch the Antauri temptress’s hand just before she made a grab at the crotch of my breeches—her fifth try in as many minutes.

It was a tempting offer.

Antauri females were beautiful, luscious, and curvy, with that full third breast sitting astride the other two.

She licked her full lips with a long green forked tongue, and I couldn’t help but think what that tongue would feel like wrapped around my….

No.

I had a job to do.

“I like to watch you dance,” I purred, trailing my fingers up and down her slender arms. Small scales covered Antauri skin and when one became aroused like the female nearly sitting in my lap, touching them was like touching glass.

If not aroused… I’d seen comrades with nearly severed appendages thanks to Antauri scales.

“Go up there and shake that perfect ass for me,” I urged, reaching around to give said ass a playful swat.

She tilted her head back laughing, exposing a length of perfect creamy, coral colored neck just perfect for nibbling.

Damit it all. She was just my type.

I’d been on this ship for five days now.

Five days of denying my baser urges while I hunted for the human.

Every creature on the Hartouk Lenaii knew of her, but it took days of stealth and cajoling to find out where Luarian hid her.

The Ntavian madam knew she had a prize and treated her as such.

I could buy two small skiffs for what they wanted for an hour with the human.

Eaeta, the Antauri temptress trying desperately to seduce me, was the only being I’d found who knew the human’s location and was willing to tell it.

While I figured the human would be on the fifth floor with the rest of the pleasurers, there were hundreds of private rooms on that level.

The only chance I had to swipe the human and get us off this ship alive was to do it quickly and quietly.

Since Eaeta worked on the fifth level when she wasn’t dancing, she knew exactly which room the human occupied…

and how many additional guards Luarian employed to protect her.

It would have been simpler just to buy the human for an hour and make our escape.

Trouble was, I’d spent too much time on the Hartouk Lenaii in the past. I had a well-known reputation as an Earth protector among the crew.

Luckily, I had also established a reputation for enjoying a good time, so as long as I dropped a few thousand credits in the gambling dens and showed my face nightly around the dancers and shows, everybody ignored my presence.

Hell, I offered to go after this particular human because I knew she was destined for the best hedonism ship in the universe. I meant to mix business with a little pleasure… said attempts at pleasure getting derailed at every turn.

I’d been on the ship only a matter of minutes before hearing of the Kersak ambassador’s attempt to buy the girl.

Word had it he’d offered Luarian twice what she paid.

Thankfully, the madam realized selling the human to the scourge of the galaxy would be a death sentence.

The ambassador didn’t take rejection well and whispers in darkened hallways suggested he wasn’t above trying to steal the girl away.

So, in addition to searching for a way to get my hands on her, I kept my eye on the Kerzak.

Guarding the little human against getting snatched when I planned on doing the same thing seemed a bit hypocritical, but at least I wouldn’t eat her.

“I’m on next,” Eaeta murmured, nuzzling my neck. My cock jumped in appreciation.

Fuck! It’d been over a year since I visited the hedonism ship. Maybe I might take an hour or so to…

No !

I had a job to do, and if the rumors were true, very little time to do it.

Luarian announced the human would take her first client tonight.

A pleasurer’s first client was always a special occasion.

The cost was not only a small fortune, but they also extended the time limit from a very strict hour to three hours.

Plenty of time to grab her and get off this ship after I’d waylaid the lucky bastard that bought her.

I gave Eaeta’s luscious ass a squeeze and playfully nipped at her neck. “Put on a good show for me, beautiful.”

She giggled, glancing over her shoulder as she sauntered toward the stage. I waited until the spotlight hit her, the lighting turning her coral skin into a pale shade of red before slipping into the shadows.

I strode out of the dancer’s lounge, stopping to grab a tankard of Verdesian ale at the bar outside the entrance to the live-action sex shows.

The moans and cries coming from behind the dark blue ornately carved doors did little to settle my already throbbing cock.

When I got the human back to the Bardaga, I intended to spend a solid month up to my neck in wine and pleasures.

The Hartouk Lenaii might be off limits for a while, but it wasn’t the only hedonism ship in the cosmos.

My Chieftain owed me big for this. I wish I had the means to contact them and let his human mate Emmy know I’d located her friend.

Unfortunately, the Hartouk Lenaii forbade off ship communications…

as well as the carrying of weapons. The motto—what happens on a hedonism ship stayed on a hedonism ship.

Whether or not the plan went smoothly, I was completely on my own.

With a human.

At least I knew what she looked like. I’d been tailing the Kerzak ambassador when I caught sight of Luarian leaving the dining level with her and several other girls a few nights ago.

I’d always thought human females possessed a sort of frail beauty.

She proved no different, a tiny creature, but with full curves and a riot of waves the color of sunlight falling over her shoulders.

Her skin was pale and even from a distance, I could see the enticing shade of her deep violet eyes.

She’d been speaking with one of the other pleasurers and for a flash of a moment, a broad smile curved her full pink lips.

I’d stood there, dumbfounded—unable to do anything but watch her walk away.

At that moment, I swore to affect my rescue before anyone could get their hands on her.

I told myself it was to spare her the distress of having to copulate with whatever creature afforded her price. The truth was, the idea of another male touching her made rage burn in my gut like a flame. Probably just my Vaktaire protective instincts.

Probably.

The brothel took up the whole of the fifth level, the silver gilded arch barring the entrance just off the lift.

Behind the ornate desk carved with cartouches of couples fucking sat a diminutive Ardesian female, her pale green skin anointed with a shimmer that made her yellow eyes twinkle like gems.

“Who’s free tonight?” I asked after a rather portly gentleman with tentacles for hair concluded his business to engage three females for the night.

The Ardesian cocked a thick dark blue brow at me.

“Depends on what you’re after?”

I thought about asking after the human, but if I ever wanted to show my face on the Hartouk Lenaii, I needed to remain above suspicion.

“I prefer a Ntavian.”

A common request. This hedonism ship, in particular, was renowned for its stable of Ntavian pleasurers.

“How many?” The female made a few clicks on her dat a pad.

“Just one,” I snorted, holding up my tankard of ale. “Think I’ve drunk too much to handle more than that.”

The female rolled her yellow eyes and made a few more taps on the pad.

“Luntha, one of our most popular is free for the next hour.”

I pulled a wad of credits from my pocket and plopped them on the ornate desk. The Ardesian seemed unimpressed. I imagined amounts equal to the treasury of small planets passed through her fingers each night.

“Take a seat. Luntha will be out shortly.” She nodded her sharp chin toward a small waiting area just inside the silver filagree gate.

A large Ntavian male grunted as he granted me entrance.

I felt for the male. Having to wrangle two cocks on a pleasure ship must be torture. I could barely control my one.

Soft fabrics and plush seating in bright jeweled tones adorned the seating area.

Other than myself, there were seven males awaiting service.

None seemed to possess the type of wealth it would take to purchase the human’s time.

Other than grunts of greeting, we kept to ourselves, each imagining the joys to come.

I ran over the layout of the fifth floor in my mind.

According to Eaeta, the human occupied one of the larger suites on the port side of the ship.

Unless I misremembered, there was a service exit nearby we could use to reach the dock.

The trick would be dealing quietly with her client and getting into and out of her room unseen.

“Tarook!”

The voice calling my name rolled the “r” into oblivion. The male at my side grunted in approval as I turned.

Luntha was beautiful. Tall and lithe, with violet skin and deep green hair that hung over her shoulder in a thick braid. She smiled at me, showing stark white teeth with sharp canines as long, thin fingers undulating, beckoning me.

I placed my hand in hers, feeling a faint tingle against my palm. Ntavian women secreted the smallest bit of poison from the pores of their skin when aroused. Not enough to cause damage or sickness… just a delicious tingle with every touch.

Dammit.

Fifteen minutes. If I could just squeeze fifteen minutes….

No!

Luntha led me down the hallway, plush carpeting muffling our steps. Luntha, Being a popular pleasurer, she had better accommodation with her lodgings located just a short way from the red gilded door that held the human.